Letter X

I've looked and looked for an "X" topic that would make any sense for me to write about.  There isn't anything.  So, if you'll indulge my leap, today I'm going to write about X-stitching.

Cross-stitching is pretty much the only craft skill I learned as a child that I still know how to do.  And now, for nearly 10 years, the only projects I've worked on are Christmas stockings for my nieces and nephews.  In that time I've completed 7 and I have 3 in the works right now (sorry, sisters, only 2 will be ready by Christmas-want to draw straws to see who gets pushed back to next year?)

Two of the finished ones

Of course, the irony in the time and effort I've put into these gifts for all my cute relatives?  My own children have been using every-day white socks for their Christmas stockings since they were born...

A-W

Wh-wh-who

Who's out there reading today?  
It's your turn to weigh in and let me know you're out there!

Catching up on A-Z?

Veggies and a Recipe

I HATED vegetable soup when I was growing up.  I mean really did not like the stuff!  Not one time my mother made it did I spare her feelings.  It was disgusting and I was not going to touch it.  I can say now that it was the texture of mushy vegetables that I particularly didn't care for, but back then I just was not having it. (I also refused to eat cooked carrots and french-sliced green beans).

Thinking about that today, combined with the plummeting temperatures has me thinking of a super simple soup recipe that I do like, and I'm going to share it with you....

Broccoli-Wild Rice Soup

1 pkg Wild Rice Mix w/ seasonings (add extra white rice if desired)

5 c. water

10 oz. chopped broccoli (frozen works fine)

1 carrot, sliced thin (again frozen works, too)

1 c. corn (or any vegetable on hand-a frozen veggie medley will cover all three of these)

2 t dried minced onion (or 1/2 medium onion, chopped)

1 can cheddar cheese soup

8 oz. cream cheese, cubed

Shredded Cheddar Cheese, optional

~Bring water to a boil and add wild rice; reduce heat to med-low.  Cover and simmer 10 minutes, stirring once.

~Stir in remaining ingredients, except soup & cheeses.  Cover and simmer 5 minutes.

~Add soup and cream cheese.  Stir over heat until cheese is completely melted.

~Add shredded cheese, if desired.

Enjoy!

A-U

In My Heart On Thursday

Underwater Worlds

When Ben and I were engaged he talked a lot about wanting to learn how to SCUBA dive.  That sounded adventurous and fun so of course I raved about how I wanted to do that too!  This though I'm a pretty terrible swimmer and had panicked the first time I'd tried snorkeling.  Since making such a bold statement, I've had several more opportunities for snorkeling and learning to SCUBA.  The snorkeling is getting better; the SCUBA is probably never going to happen.  What I've learned most of all is to be comfortable with my abilities.

My first snorkeling experience was with a group of friends on an organized tour in Bermuda.  Trying to look cool, and not wanting to look like the old lady on our tour, I declined a life jacket.  I made it about 2 minutes offshore before the guide took me back to the sand.  Brushing that off to my friends as seasickness (or something equally ridiculous) I eagerly followed them out into the open ocean at an abandoned beach hours later.  The underwater rocks beat up my legs and the current beat up my pride.  I spent most of the afternoon fooling around on the shore.

Goofing around with my friend Dave 

I tried exploring underwater depths in the same way several more times with no better results.  Looking good was always the determining factor and I'd rather make up an excuse to not go out rather than looking stupid.  Then, the changing day came.  

Ben and I had found a great little beach cove on the west coast of Mexico.  A local cabana shack charmed me into putting on a life jacket and Ben and I spent the entire day out on the water!  No boat or kayak, no tired arms or fear of drowning-just the two of us floating in the world alone.  It was amazing!  That's the day I set my pride aside and I allowed myself to have fun without embarrassment or worry.

A great snorkeling day

I am never going to be a diver.  It turns out that conquering my minimal swimming skills wasn't nearly as difficult as feeling comfortable with schools of fish swarming through my legs.  I enjoy being in the water and observing the underwater goings-on as I float safely distant from above.  It's true I may never see the most beautiful things down there to see, but I'm out there.  And that's pretty big to me!

 See A-T

Testimony

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  I joined the church nearly 10 years ago and have been grateful ever since.  On a day to day basis, I'm most grateful for the comfort and reassurance I receive from the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  I know that he sacrificed much in order to give us the knowledge we would need to return to live with our Heavenly Father, and that after all my efforts to live well have failed, that sacrifice allows me to try again another day.  

My membership in the church has give me so many great opportunities to serve the people around me and to exercise humility in also being served.  I've worked with and learned from the Primary age children, Sunday School classes and the sisters in the Relief Society.  Indeed, I'm especially grateful for the Relief Society.  As a teacher, I learn as much from studying and preparing my lessons as I do from the comments and experiences shared by the ladies I am teaching.  I'm surrounded by women with pure hearts and regularly presented with opportunities to serve them in times of need.  I've been the recipient of meals and unexpected letters of encouragement and love the opportunity to share that joy with others.

I believe the Book of Mormon is a book of Scripture that clarifies many of the teachings in the Bible.  Reading it strengthens my testimony of Jesus Christ and the principles we need to learn during mortality.  It helps me understand the united purpose and goal of the Godhead and I always feel uplifted after reading it.  I believe prayer is our line of communication with the Father, and through the Scriptures we can receive our answers.  I  know that understanding what has been written will help me to receive my own personal revelations for the questions and problems I have everyday.

I believe in a Heavenly Father who loves and wants us to one day be reunited with Him.  I believe His son Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price to guarantee that possibility.  I'm grateful for the love they have for me. And I'm grateful for my membership in a church that supports me as an imperfect person while helping me strive to achieve my divine potential one day.

A-S

Sleepy Time

Sleep.  I absolutely love it. That has not always been the case.  Here's the journey sleep and I have taken to get us to the symbiotic relationship we enjoy today:

High School: Who sleeps when they're in high school.  I mastered the art of waking up, getting dressed, and rolling out the driveway in 5 minutes.  My sister Kathy was thankful she never had to worry about sharing the bathroom while she was getting ready.

College:  I worked graveyards doing night audit at a hotel, a good amount of overtime covering day shifts, and took 21+credits at school.  One semester my schedule required me to leave for school Friday at noon and not return home to sleep until Tuesday morning at 8AM.  I still tremble thinking of the day I pulled in my driveway after driving the 30 minutes across Des Moines but not remembering a single thing I did after clocking out and getting in my car to head for home.

Early 20's:  Most of this time I was in Alaska. In the summers I lived 2 hours away from any civilization.  With friends, I'd often work all day, drive into Fairbanks for a full night of fun, then head back home in the wee hours of the morning to make it to work the next day.  I'm 100% convinced that I ran over a human foot on one such excursion. 

Winters I lived in Fairbanks working two jobs.  On the weekend friends and I spent our time dancing until closing time at the Greyhound Lounge.  I decided it was time to catch up on my sleep the morning I got up and drove to work thinking I was going to be late for my 7AM shift.  I drove past 4 bank clocks but didn't register the time until I parked in the hotel parking lot and realized it was only 2:45AM.  I'd been asleep for a whopping 30 minutes before waking up in my panic.  

Late 20's:  Sleeping got better after I got married.  My husband and I quickly adopted a routine of not going to bed until well after midnight, but most of the time I could sleep in a little bit and still wasn't feeling like I needed a whole night's rest to fully function.

Now:  After having my second baby my body decided it would go on strike if I tried rousing it before getting 8 hours of sleep.  We could have a party if I let it have 10.  I still haven't figured out how to get in bed before midnight, but my husband is a saint who gets up with the kids and lets me sleep in the morning.  Heaven help me if he ever gets a job that requires him to be gone early.  

And that brings me to this weekend.  At 11:30pm on Saturday night my sore throat decided to explode with a pain I've never felt before.  My husband ran to the store for cold medicine.  I'm very slow to take medicine, and when I do it's usually only a half-dose, so when he gave me a full dose and I swallowed it I should have expected it to knock me out.  

That would have been a huge understatement!  I woke up at 10:30 long enough to agree I should stay home from church, and then not again until 12:50.  When my family got home from church I crawled back in bed and slept the rest of the day.  Literally.  I woke up at 7:30.  Everyone was getting into bed when I decided to start my day-still feeling a little groggy.  And then I crawled back in bed with my husband at our normal time.  

This morning I'm feeling pretty great!

A-R

Letter R

 I love books and reading.  And since today I'm feeling short on words, I think I'll just invite you to join me on Goodreads.com if you're not already there.  

I read in cycles-for awhile being mommy, wife, sister, daughter, teacher, and friend puts the books on the shelves.  Then a change comes on and I fly through the pages.  

While you're here, check out some of my other posts on reading...

What books would I find right now on your night stand?

A-Q

In My Heart On Thursday

"Nurturing her own mind and spirit is more important to a mother's responsibilities

 than the meals she prepares for her family."

Janath Russell Cannon, Women of Covenant

Not That I'm Holding A Grudge...

I come from a devout Scrabble-playing family.  When I was a girl my mom was my spelling idol; she won that game every single time she played.  Her magic weapon? QAT...a short little "q" word that does not need a "u."  Time after time I'd watch her school her opponent and many times that was the word that I remember shooting her ahead.  I pretty much had a love affair with that word until the middle of 2nd grade.

In 2nd grade I was in a combination class with six 2nd graders and around fifteen 3rd graders.  My teacher was Mrs. Cummings and at the time I held teachers in pretty high esteem.  She was the first to tarnish that image for me.

Every once in awhile Mrs. Cummings would let us have a vocabulary challenge.  Two students were chosen and given a whole day to think of a word that would stump the class.  I have no idea what the reward was for winning, but I was confident when I finally got to have my turn.

Without thinking twice I came to class knowing I was going to win.  I was pitted against 3rd grader Brian Fisher and I don't think I even heard him say his word for the class.  How important could it be?  With  uncharacteristic boldness (I was a pretty shy child) I told that combination class that my word was "QAT! Q-A-T"  Stunned, dumbfounded faces.  Of course nobody knew that one!  Even Mrs. Cummings' expression portrayed silent stupefication.  Then my confidence started melting away.

Mrs. Cummings said she'd never heard that word before.  Was I sure I hadn't forgotten the "u"?  She asked what I thought it was and I proclaimed, "It's an evergreen tree!"  She was still less than sure.  She suggested we look it up in the dictionary.  I wasn't worried-my mom's red dictionary definitely had that word in there.  I'd look it up lots of times.  

The classroom dictionary pages started turning.  The "q" section was located and the page turned back and forth, fingers scrolled up and down.  More than once.  Back and forth again.  No "qat."  Anywhere.  Mrs. Cummings declared that my word was not a word and 3rd grader Brian Fisher was declared the winner.  In an instant my mom became smarter than my teacher.  And of the few memories I have of that combination-class year, being ignorantly stripped of my title as vocabulary challenge winner stands out as though it had happened only yesterday.

(I just looked "qat" up in the dictionary again and discovered that while "an evergreen tree" is a loosely correct interpretation, it's actually the leaves of a middle-eastern plant used to make narcotic stimulants.  Maybe it's a good thing Mrs. Cummings didn't look into it further and call to ask my mom some questions...)

A-P

Letter P

Who on the planet hasn't yet jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon?
  Here's a sampling of what you'll find on my boards:

Catch up on A-O

Obnoxious Sales People

I spent the last 5 days working with my sister at a Holiday Mart sponsored by the Junior League of Denver.  In addition to her Etsy store and wholesale accounts, she often sets up a booth at arts/music festivals and craft shows and invites me along to help her out.  Normally a show weekend is fully of obnoxious laughter and hordes of unhealthy food and we love it!  This weekend we definitely had a lot of that, but nothing about this show was like anything I've ever experienced before. 

Brooke and I have a very personable and somewhat laid back sales style.  She believes strongly after 6 years in business that her jewelry sells itself.  Her pieces are unique and her work is beautiful.  We're very good at reading our customer and knowing if they're interested in hearing more or not.  Sometimes it's helpful to explain that everything is made out of recycled flatware, and sometimes it's better to leave that unmentioned.  Whether they see that part of the jewelry or not, she attracts a wide range of shoppers.  In the end, for Brooke it's not about making a ridiculous amount of money.  Instead it's about making sure that the people who make a purchase LOVE the piece they buy, will wear it, and will  tell their friends they love it.  

Contrast that with the aloe vera lotion booth that was located directly across the aisle from us this weekend.  They were seriously obnoxious!  4 salespeople peddling a 9 oz. jar of handcream.  The four of them stood in a line at the front edge of their booth hollering at every person passing by...

"Try it!"

"Free hand massage"

"Mine's better"

"No grease. No fragrance!"

(This was our favorite as one of the salesman was heavily accented and sounded like he was yelling, "No greasy, no pregnant!")

They were loud and they were persistent.  Once they had a shopper's hand they engaged in a literal tug-of-war until they had the customer moved from the center of the aisle to the rear of their store.  Each passer-by suckered into their space was subjected to the exact same sales pitch while having their hand or arm accosted by the saleperson's hand clenched around them.  

It was terrible for our business.  Traffic that normally would have wandered through our space were either reluctantly pulled over to the other side or running past as fast as possible with eyes pointed towards the floor and not risking the chance of making eye-contact with anyone at our end of the row.  The people who did decide to venture into our store were primarily escaping while their friend had gotten hi-jacked across the way or wanted to bad-mouth the obnoxious-ness to us.  No matter how we looked at it, it was bad for business.

At one point on our slowest day the most well-intentioned of the lotion salesman wandered over to offer us a little "sales advice."  My eyes darted to my sister in the back of the booth and I'm still not sure how she maintained her composure as he tried to tell her that he knew better how to run the business she's created and is as important to her as almost anything else in her life.  

For a lot of reasons, we were more than happy to pack up our booth and get out of the building as quick as possible after closing time.  It was the worst-managed show Brooke or I have ever worked.  But mostly we were eager to get away from our over-achieving neighbors and enjoy some much needed peace and quiet.  I will give the aloe vera lotion team credit for being professional.  They travel 52 weeks a year and do what they need to get a paycheck.  I researched their product today and it seems to have a legitimate following.  If I hadn't watched them making sales by pressuring people all weekend I probably would have been interested in trying it out.  Unfortunately, as it stands, throwing my support behind that company is not likely to ever happen...

I'm curious, what type of sales style do you best respond to?

A-N

I Need a New Look

Over and over I've scoured the internet for a new blog layout and found nothing that inspires me.  It's time for a new look and I'm hoping you can help.

Where have you found your favorite blog designs?

A-M right here...

In My Heart On Thursday

Making Money

Back in high school I wrote out a plan whereby the world could stop using money.  If I remember right, we would all go on a honest bartering system and we would all be happy.  Sounds nice, doesn't it?  Never feeling like you're lacking or deprived as long as someone else will trade you.  I'm thinking that idea won't soon be winning the Nobel Prize for Economics.

My life seems to be constantly tied up with the stress of money.  My brain is taxed to the hilt on payday as I divide a decent amount among an overwhelming number of bills and responsibilities.  My inner self struggles daily against the temptation of shopping.  The weight of unwise credit card debt keeps us aware of our bad choices.  My husband endures a lackluster job that allows us to leave adequately well.  And we wonder how our parents raised families on considerably less.

So what are we doing?  For awhile we've been half-doing Dave Ramsey's financial program.  It worked really well in the beginning and now we've just drawn it out too long.  We do have an emergency savings but need a shot in the arm to continue getting where we need to be.  I know he always says, "Beans and rice, rice and beans" but it seems like it would take eating our food storage every night for awhile before that would get us too far ahead.

We talked recently about moving into a small cheap apartment as a way to build up extra money each month. Truthfully, that's what we've done for our whole marriage.  The place we're living now is the first place we've really loved and for the perks that come with it, we'd be sacrificing more than just shelter to move out now.  

And we've talked about getting part-time jobs.  Indeed, I started applying for seasonal jobs this afternoon.  I'm not 100% sold on the idea, but it seems like a better solution than asking my already hard-working husband to be gone from his kids even longer every day.  If I think about it long, I do start getting excited about contributing again, especially imagining my check's chunk of money disappearing our debt directly.

We will keep on keeping on, but I'm curious...

when in similar situations, what do you do?

Want more A-Z?

No Time For Lazy

Well, I'm back from an amazing vacation in New Mexico and have three days before I leave town again.  The "L" word for today is definitely "LISTS."  I have lists of bills to pay and lists of groceries to buy.  Lists of clothes to wash and lists of clothes to pack.  Lists of things to do with the kids.  Lists of foods to leave for my family to eat while I'm away and lists of foods to buy when I get where I'm going so fast food doesn't break the bank.  Here's a brief overview of the things I'm planning on squeezing into the next 72 hours...

Book a hotel room in Denver

Buy black or gray pants-SCRAPPED

Call and yell at Frontier Airlines for once again not emailing my flight confirmation

Find a baby-sitter for Thursday and Friday

Take the books back to the library before they're overdue

Pre-school during naptime including a Columbus Day activity for today

Change the calendar from September to October

Buy two new blue Books of Mormon for a new reading challenge

Buy a new journal because it always makes me feel happy when I do that

Do October's budget

Pay October's bills

Get cash from the bank for all the other things

Find slow-cooker and soup recipes since winter apparently dropped by while I was away

Costco run for milk, eggs, and bread

Grocery store so my family doesn't have to eat ramen all weekend

Wash, dry, fold, and put away the laundry

Pack to go away again

Fit in a play date-SCRAPPED

Mail a book for paperbackswap.com

Research lodges for my family Christmas reunion

Clean out the car before the milk and french fries start smelling

Plan Family Home Evening because my 4-year-old just let me know he knows that's supposed to happen today

Clean the house before my baby's development specialist comes in the morning

And, oh yeah, squeeze a bath in before nobody wants to live with me...